Archdiocese of Birmingham

St. Joseph’s News Friday 28th November 2008

Dear Parents and Carers…

Have a good weekend. L. Howell

Dates for your Diary Wednesday 10th December Christmas End of Term Mass 9.10am Tuesday 16th December Whole School Christmas Performance 2.00pm Wednesday 17th December Whole School Christmas Performance 9.15am Thursday 18th December Reception Performance 9.30am

School Christmas Dinner Friday 19th December Mufti Day – Christmas Theme Christmas Parties

Break up for Christmas holiday 3.15pm

Return to School Please note that we will be having two teacher days when we return to school after Christmas. This will be a chance for us to get school back to normal after the building work! The children will return to school on Wednesday 7th January at 8.55am. PE Kit Please could I remind all parents and children that PE kit should be kept in school and only be taken home at weekends or at the end of half term for washing. PE kit consists of a white t-shirt or polo shirt, black shorts and black pumps. Your child must have their kit in school for PE lessons. Many children this week have not brought their kit in and so have missed out on their PE lesson, having to sit out while the lesson is going on. On this note, can I also stress the importance of your child taking part in PE. We frequently receive notes asking children to be excused from the lessons, however, as PE is a part of the National Curriculum, we are unable to authorise children missing lessons without good reason. It is a legal requirement that all children take part in PE. If you have a genuine medical concern regarding your child taking part in PE, please make an appointment to come and see me. Thank you. After-School Clubs After-school clubs have now finished until we come back to school in January!

Christmas Dinner

Our school Christmas dinner will take place on Thursday 18th December. If your child has sandwiches and would like a dinner for this day, please ask at the office. The cost is £1.70. Please note that

children who get free school meals or pay for dinners will automatically get their Christmas dinner. Only sandwich children need to request a dinner for that day.

Christmas Performances — Get your tickets now!! Tickets are now available for all of the Christmas performance s. The whole school will be performing ‘Mr Humbug Sees The Light’ this year, with performances on Tuesday 16th December at 2.00pm and on Wednesday 17th December at 9.15am. The Reception performance, ‘Come To The Manger’ will take place at 9.30am on Thursday 18th December. Families and friends are welcome to attend, and it would be wonderful to see as many people as possible supporting the children, who are making a huge effort in preparing for the plays. As with last year’s performances,

initially, 2 tickets per family will be available and they will be colour coded for each performance. Health and safety means that the number of people in the hall at any one time has to be limited. Reception children will receive two tickets each for their performance and the other remaining tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. St. Joseph’s Parish Bazaar The Parish Bazaar is taking place a week on Saturday (6th December) between 11.00am and 2.00pm in the community rooms at St. Joseph’s Church. There will be lots of different stalls, tombola, bric-a-brac, toys, books, refreshments and of course, Father Christmas! Please come along and see if you can pick up a bargain! The Drum — ‘Young Gifted Brum Programme’ The Drum in Aston is holding a series of activities such as dancing, acting, singing and digital art for children aged 8 to 18. We have been asked to bring these to your attention, and have some application forms in school if anyone is interested in finding out more. Please note that this programme does not involve school in any way, we have just been asked to promote it! If you would like further information about this, please contact Dee Whittle on 0121 333 2431 Advent This Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent. The word ‘advent’ comes from the Latin word 'adventus', which means "arrival". It is the traditional time of spiritual preparation and waiting for the arrival of Christmas, the coming of Jesus to earth when he was born as a baby at Bethlehem about two thousand years ago.

There are many traditions that form part of Advent and preparation for Christmas. One of these, which we use in school, is the Advent Wreath. The wreath is made of a circle of evergreen branches, which symbolise eternal life, as the circle has no beginning or end. The wreath holds three purple candles and one pink candle, to represent the four Sundays of advent, and a white candle in the centre. A purple candle is lit on each of the first three Sundays of advent. Purple is a colour that represents waiting and penitence, and is also a ‘royal’ colour. On the fourth Sunday, the pink candle is also lit, which represents joy and hope. The white candle (which represents Christ) is lit on Christmas Day. In school, we have an advent wreath in each classroom; the candles will be lit

each day at prayer time. We will be using the ‘Walk with Me’ programme of prayer and reflection for advent. Your child should have received a ‘Walk with Me’ advent calendar today, and from Monday, we will have a special display in the entrance hall featuring a giant version of the calendar. This is designed to help the children to appreciate the meaning of Advent and the season of Christmas, and guides the children with daily tasks and prayer – please spend a little time following this with your children. Attendance (week Beginning 17th November) Well done to Reception, who achieved 98% attendance for last week. Well done! The full results are as follows: Rec 98% with 10 lates Year One 89% with 4 lates Year Two 95% with 12 lates Year Three 95% with 8 lates Year Four 97% with 17 lates Year Five 89% with 4 lates Year Six 91% with 7 lates This gives a whole school attendance of 94% with 62 lates. Can we try to be on time please? Reading takes place from the start of the day until 9.30. If your child is late they may miss their group reading for the week. Happy Birthday We wish a Happy Birthday this week to Misty Simms & Mya Katemauswa (Rec), Chris Mokanda (Year Two) and Edwin Bramble (Year Three). Celebration Assembly The following children were nominated by class teachers in the Celebration Assembly for:

Reception Saraiyah Smith A lovely start in Reception – we wish her all the best at her new school Year 1 Amarn Johnson Trying hard with his work and asking good questions Year 2 Tia Ellis-Brade Excellent reading and using her knowledge of words to answer questions Year 3 Kai Hendrickson Trying hard everyday in everything

This Sunday is the 1st

Sunday of Advent

Year 4 Farai Rimayi A fantastic gymnastic sequence – a roll, travel and balance. Superstar! Year 5 Vivi Shu } Being ‘brave bunnies’ and trying extremely hard at Chloe Burton } swimming in the deep end Year 6 Norbert Czacharowsk Working really hard in numeracy – some great results! Yours sincerely, Mrs L. Howell Acting Head Teacher